The Emerald City meets the Emerald Isle

Mostly cloudy with partial sunshine is the weather in Ireland. This morning we made our way to Coole Park, the birthplace of the Irish Literary Renaissance. This estate, formerly run by playwright, Lady Gregory, is about an hour out of Galway. Lady Gregory was a friend and patron to many writers and provided Coole Park as a place where they could come and create their poems, plays, short stories, and books, among the beautiful landscape and extensive gardens. The Irish Literary Renaissance is important for the cultural revival that was so essential to Irish pride during the time of the Easter Rising, Civil War, and eventually independence.

Lady Gregory’s husband, before he died, saw to it that they imported a wide variety of exotic plants and trees to Coole Park, which was sign of prestige. Unfortunately, this winter brought the worst floods in recent Irish history, leaving several of the park’s beloved yew trees were water for many months and look like they didn’t make it out alive. These trees, however, are resilient and the park’s gardeners are hoping for a revival of these glorious and rare upright “Irish Yews.”

One of the main focal points is the Autograph Tree. When writers came to stay at Coole Park, Lady Gregory invited them to carve their initials into the bark of a tree. Over the years, she collected dozens of ‘autographs’ from various writers, including George Bernard Shaw and, perhaps her closest friend, W.B. Yeats (also known as Mrs. PH’s second literary boyfriend).

After seeing a movie and getting a tour of the grounds, we began our own Literary Extravaganza! In Seattle, we were split up into pairs and were given the name of an author from the Irish Literary Renaissance era. Each pair researched their author and then chose a piece to perform for us at the park. We had a beautiful setting under a giant Western Red Cedar, with a stone bench called “Lady Gregory’s Seat,” with a stone wall opposite. Each pair did a tremendous job – and what better place to bring the literature alive!

We then headed back to hotel and had an evening in Galway city, shopping, eating, listening to music, and enjoying each other’s company. Tomorrow we head to the Aran Islands and more of our adventure.